Saturday, July 7, 2018

Papers See Newsprint Costs Spike

Newspapers are getting caught in the middle of the White House’s trade war — and they are trying to get the International Trade Commission to roll back some of the increased tariffs.

Jacked-up tariffs on Canadian newsprint have caused newsprint prices to spike 30 percent this year, according to The NYPost.

The ITC is holding hearings on the issue on July 17.

“The situation for newspapers is dire,” said Paul Boyle, senior vice president of public policy at the News Media Alliance, a coalition of printers and publishers that he said collectively employs 600,000 people in the US.

“If these price increases stick, there will be another round of [payroll] cuts,” warns Michael Klingensmith, publisher of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and past chairman of the NMA.

The hikes were instituted by President Trump after one of the few US papers mills in the US, the Northern Pacific Paper Company (NORPAC), owned by New York City venture capital firm One Rock Capital Partners, last year filed a complaint with the ITC claiming that Canadian papermakers were dumping newsprint in the US at 23 percent to 55 percent below market value.

The Commerce Department in March agreed — and initiated anti-dumping duties on uncoated groundwood paper from Canada.

Boyle claims that is a misreading of what is truly taking place. “They are raising the price for an industry that employs 600,000 for the benefit of a single paper mill in Washington State that employs 300 people.”